	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 9, 2011

Erik Spoelstra

DALLAS, TEXAS: Game Five

Miami Heat 103
Dallas Mavericks 112

COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: By definition, this certainly is a series of mental and physical endurance, and that's why it's a seven-game series. Each game is a possession game going down to the stretch. We were able to steal one here, and they did what they needed to do. They took care of the last two games going down the stretch. So we're going back to Miami, and we have to do the same thing.

Q. Spo, was there a concern at halftime that Dwyane would not be coming back out or was that additional treatment?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: I was staying in the moment. Jay just said, "He can't start this half. I'll let you know in a few minutes whether he can go or not." My plan was for him not to go. I didn't even see him on the bench when he came back. We went on from there. We still had an opportunity to close this out. We weren't able to do it, and so now when we go back to Miami we wouldn't have it any other way.
We worked extremely hard to get that home court. Nothing that we've achieved this year has been easy. So we're certainly not going to start now.

Q. Is it too early to speculate on your part, how much of a problem that hip is going to be in the next 48, 72 hours?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Way too early. We'll have to see how it responds tomorrow. When he's able to sweat and keep it warm, he was fine. Fortunately, we have an extra day. We'll see if that's enough.

Q. Coach, 68% from the three-pointer for them. But the two final ones were off a double you had to commit to and the other Terry was obviously defended well. Is there a point you have to pick your poison, and tonight the one you chose was the one that ended up landing?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: They made their shots. This is a shot-making team. We were aware of that before we came into the series. They can really extend your defense and you have to be active and athletic, all of these things. I think what led to that were a lot of the relief points they got in the first half. And we talk about this all season long. We try to take away the relief. Easy opportunities in the open court, easy opportunities right at the rim. They were getting all of that in the first half. And the psychological part of that is naturally the basket starts to look bigger.
Then they got some good looks, they made those, and even some of them I think they had three or four at the end of the clock that were defended pretty well, and they knocked those down too.
But if you're getting good shots during the course of the game, you can make tough shots down the stretch.

Q. Erik, as you head back to Miami, is figuring out how to get LeBron going offensively in the fourth quarter, is that your top priority?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We'll see. There's obviously going to be some priorities in terms of closing out games, which we've been very good at the last two-and-a-half months, and particularly during our playoff run. We haven't been able to do it consistently enough in this series. And that's something we'll address. That's been a fabric all season long, being able to work and improve on things. LeBron was much more aggressive tonight. Obviously, he had a triple-double. And he had an impact on the game.

Q. Coach, offensively both teams were able to shoot the ball extremely well. It seemed like the difference in this game came down to turnovers. You guys had 16 turnovers. That negated your opportunities late in the game.
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yes, again that leads to the relief. And some of those turnovers led to one on zero or a number of breaks that were easy opportunities for them in the first half. And we were a little bit sloppy against their pressure. That's normally what we're used to doing to other teams. So we definitely have to take care of the ball better.

Q. What makes Dallas so difficult to defend down the stretch of close games and in particular Dirk?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Of course, you have the shooting. They stretch the floor at the majority of the positions. And Nowitzki requires at least attention of one and a half and oftentimes two guys and create some kind of trigger. Barea was able to get in the paint, make some plays, break us down, and Terry was able to do that as well.
Our defense has been proven. Our defense has been successful against all kinds of different offenses. It is not easy against this team, but we are capable, very capable when we're on top of it. We were not good enough in the first half. They got too many rhythm opportunities, particularly in the paint.

Q. Erik, how would you grade your defense tonight? Obviously they had some really tough shots, but did you see anything that is a concern going forward?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Yeah. The opportunities they had in the paint, and the relief opportunities. We always talk about that with our team. We're a rhythm team. When we get out in the open court, when we get our attacks, when we get to the free-throw line, our rhythm players can knock down threes as well. Especially when it comes in the context of what we're doing. Chandler got rolls to the rim. Their bigs were getting to the rim. They were getting transition relief and gained a lot of confidence. So when we really started to pick up our defense in the second half and were much more active and athletic and disruptive, they had a great rhythm already going there. And so that's what you'll see in this league. You'll see some of those tough, end-of-the-clock shots go when you're gaining confidence during the course of the game.
We're much better than this. We've been better than this for the series, and that's what it will require as we move on to Miami.

Q. Erik, you've talked about that stretch in March helping you learn lessons about how to close. What from that time can you apply here as you go into the next games?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: Against very good competition, you've got to be better. And even while we had a lot of success during the playoffs up to this point, we have to close. And you can't simply do it on one side of the floor. It's not only executing and scoring offensively. Sometimes it's make or miss. And a couple of those possessions were an example of that tonight. But what we have felt that we built the habits to do is to be able to close teams out defensively as well. And we weren't able to do that tonight.

Q. What's the feeling of being one game away from elimination?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We look at it the other way. We're going home, and we wouldn't have it any other way than the hard way. This is an opportunity for us. That's why you play a seven-game series. You got to play it out. And this is where we feel comfortable.

Q. Erik, there seemed to be a concerted effort in the second quarter to get the ball in the post to the LeBron. And it seemed to get away from that in the second half. Especially down the stretch. Why did you get away from that?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We went to different actions that were working for us and got there late in the fourth quarter. They started to adjust their defense a little bit. We wanted to get the ball moving. Scoring, I don't think, was a major issue for us until the last few minutes of the game.

Q. Coach, for much of the game you seemed to want to operate more with LeBron in the post especially early on and had him off ball. Later as the game went on he took on more of the ball-handling responsibilities. Can we expect to see the same trends?
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: We'll see. Mario was tired at that point, so I put in Mike and that's what we usually do. LeBron will play the point or Dwyane. Either one we can run the offense with.

Q. Erik, obviously you have a lot of respect for Jason Terry, put LeBron James on him especially in the fourth quarter. Talk about that and the fact that in the games they've won, he sort of exploded a bit in the fourth. In the games you won, he got zero.
COACH ERIK SPOELSTRA: He's a tough cover. Again, a lot of actions involve Nowitzki. He's a big key to the team. He's been that way all season long, and that's why we've treated him with due respect. He was able to get into a great rhythm tonight. He was aggressive. We'll see what happens in Game 6.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297